BUSINESS.

SEVEN STEPS TO THINK AND ACT LIKE A CEO NOT AN

EMPLOYEE
As a business owner, you should be working on the business, not so much in the
business. You should be focusing on your companys purpose, direction, strategy, structure,
systems, people, goals, and accountability processes. Your goal as an owner is to design and
shape a business that serves you and works independently from you a business that is
systemsdependent and not ownerdependent. You want a business that runs nearly on
autopilot and spits out cash. !nstead of shuffling papers or doing the bookkeeping,
spend timetrying to make your company different, better, more profitable and more systems
oriented. "ike a business architect, try to shape your business to satisfy your vision, dreams
and needs. #o gain greater freedom, fulfillment and financial success, you must function as a
leader instead of as a doer. As a leader, you need to be more strategic, longterm focused and
less tactical$technical, daytoday fi%ated. !f you dont focus on the entire business, no one
else will. !t will &ust drift or run aground. 'o how do you stop thinking and acting like an
employee or technician( )ere are seven steps to consider seriously* +. ,irst, you should
change the metaphor in your head for what it means to be an owner. -egardless of your
industry or si.e of your business, start viewing yourself as a /hief 0%ecutive 1fficer 2/013,
not an employee. !nstead of seeing yourself as a role player, see yourself as the head coach or
the director, conductor, facilitator, or captain. 4. #o help with this mindset transformation,
start referring to yourself as /01. 5ut it on your business card, stationery, nameplate, etc.
6sing the term /01 will force you to see your company as an entity above and beyond
yourself, as a separate and valuable asset that needs to be professionally managed and
optimi.ed. You are not the business and the business is not you. 'pend time and energy
helping to build, improve and optimi.e this asset. ,or e%ample, focus on how to grow sales,
e%pand your competitive advantage, and increase your value to customers. 7. /onsider that as
/01, you get paid at least the e8uivalent of 94:: an hour to professionally manage this
separate entity and valuable asset your business. Ask yourself before you touch any task,
;ould a /01 do this( 1r ask, !s this task worth me doing at a cost of 94:: an hour(
<ont spend a dollars worth of time on a dime decision or task. 0levate your vision, thinking
and tasks. !nstead of asking, )ow can ! do a given task, start asking yourself ;ho else can
do this task( "earn to delegate often. =. !f you truly buy into your role as a /01, you should
be willing to give up the urgent, less important, lowvalue tasks you routinely handle. -eali.e
that >:? of your results come from 4:? of your talents and activities. <elegate the >:? of
your activities that only produce 4:? of your results. 'top doing the wrong kind of work.
/01s should think, lead and delegate not handle trivial matters. Your &ob as /01 is to
design$redesign and grow the business@ your managers &ob is to improve the business@ and
your employees &ob is to operate the business. )ere are a few more suggestions* A Bo longer
ma&or in minor thingsC <ont let yourself get distracted by irrelevant, insignificant stuff. A
<ont let the urgent control your life. 5ut your cell phone$pager away more often. <ont be a
slave to email. /heck it once a day, not all day long. A !nstead of creating todo lists, start
creating nottodo lists for you and let go of small things. 0liminate or delegate the >:? of
your activities that produce so little impact for your business. 'hare this nottodo lists with
your team. 5ut them on notice that you are getting out of the daily detail 2usually their areas
of responsibility3 and starting to see and influence the big picture. A Duit trying to manage
details and start managing your people. Euide their focus and priorities, but let them do the
work. F. 'chedule time to think and plan. You must think deeply about important, strategic
matters. Gake time to get away from the daytoday distractions and focus on deep thinking,
planning, and decisionmaking. !solate yourself to concentrate on bigpicture issues. 'pend
time alone digesting all the information you get bombarded with and develop the big ideas to
take your business to the ne%t level of performance. 1nce a month, schedule a day away from
the office to think and plan. ;ith no distractions whatsoever, put on your /01 hat and spend
time reviewing and improving your chief asset your business. H. 1n a daily basis, reserve
the vast bulk of the day to tackle only your top 7 priorities. 'elfishly guard your time and
focus. <ont allow your employees to disrupt your /01oriented priorities and actions with
countless gotaminute interruptions. Allowing such conduct creates an environment whereby
your time is not valued and respected. !t also creates unproductive days, a reactive business
mindset and employees that are overly dependent upon you for everything. 'top these gota
minute interruptions. I. ;hatever your technical e%pertise, consider hiring someone else to
handle such technical and tactical work so that you can escape the stranglehold. ,or e%ample,
if your background is selling or accounting, hire a competent sales manager or accounting
manager to manage such daytoday details. !f you already have such employees on your
payroll, then let them do their &obs. Eet out of their .one of responsibility.
Contact us if you need help. Our coaching has proven effective with small, privately-
held, and family-owned businesses. And, we offer a complimentary Business
Breakthrough Planning Session to determine if coaching is right for you and your
business.